Family Traditions Make the Holidays Magical

I remember back when I was a child growing up in South Africa – Christmas was in Summer, not a snow flake in the air. Store fronts would spray fake snow on the windows for a frosty cold effect

Our Christmas stockings were actually my dad’s long rugby socks. These were placed at the foot of our bed, so when we woke up it was the first thing we saw…. my dad’s rugby socks had been stuffed to the brim full of surprises. This is just one of my family traditions that I love.

These traditions have helped to highlight fond memories in my childhood. I feel the repetition gives comfort and unification to the family unit. Repeating the same traditions over and over gives the kids something to look forward to and helps create the magic of the holidays.

Now with the twins we have started some of our own. Last year we made some wonderful, easy decorations for the holidays.

One that I especially love is cutting down our Christmas Tree. This tradition started before we even had the kids – my hubby and I would traipse through the rows of trees till we found the perfect tree for our home.

We go to the tree farm, jump on the hay ride pulled by a huge tractor and select our tree. We then cut it down with a huge saw, drag it back to the tractor and then load it up.

This year Aunty Caz visiting from the UK and our friends joined us on our adventure.

We got the tree home and put it up, but the decorating came the next day. I got a picture of the boys putting on the first ornaments. These they picked out at a winter market downtown – an orange “lion” for Mason and a bear for Cameron.

What family traditions do you have? Start any new ones this year? Here’s hoping your holidays are simply magical!

About Twin Mom

34 year old, born in a small steel town in South Africa, now living in a large Steel City in the US. Mother of twins and loving every moment.

Great tradition! thanks for sharing!
we usually let the kids open their stockings Christmas morning, while they are waiting impatiently for us to get up.. We make them all open their presents one at a time- to prolong the moment…just a bit longer…

When we were little (Edward wasn’t born yet) it was always me who would go into your bedroom and wake you up in the middle of the night after Santa had been. We’d open and unwrap everything in our stockings then re-wrap it all back up again, and pretend we didn’t know what was in our stocking from Santa when opening them up with our parents. All this time I thought Mum and Dad didn’t know what we were up to, but I found out just recently they knew what we were up to all along…..SHOOT!! Christmas is such a very special time, enjoy it and can’t wait to FT on Xmas with the twins, Love and miss you all xxxxxxx

When I was about 10 or 11 years old, I remember walking up the higher slopes of Table Mountain , away from our home just below, and cutting down a xmas tree for my mom. Only a small one mind. Each year thereafter I would go out and find a tree. I was always very proud of our tree.

A tip to keep the needles from fall off the tree too early is to place the tree in a bucket /container and after securing, add water. This also keeps tree green.